Intel has hinted at two signs of potential good news for prospective 22nm Ivy Bridge desktop chip buyers this month. Not only will it be pushing forward the launch of its Core i5 and Core i7 desktop models from Sunday, April 29th to Monday, April 23rd, but it will also be slashing the mass-quantity bulk shipment prices for retailers worldwide.

Our friends at VR-Zone are reporting that average price cuts end up somewhere between $7 and $8 dollars, and while not a significant difference, these prices are reflected in pricing for 1,000 units and not actual retial pricing. In other words, Newegg, Micro Center, Amazon, Fry's Electronics and all the other great American retailers and online e-tailers of this world can very well decide however they want to price these chips, as they will all be getting away with paying $7 to $8 less for them in quantities of 1,000.

Where the cost of a Core i7 3770K was expected to be $320 for retailers, it will now be $313. Where the cost of a Core i5 3750K was expected to be $220 for retailers, it will now be $212. The same goes for all other Core i5 and Core i7 models listed in the chart above. Nevertheless, these cost-reduced wholesale prices transform into retail pricing is a different matter entirely, and this includes pre-orders that have already been placed around the Web.

We can only guess that AMD will react to Intel's 22nm Ivy Bridge desktop cost reduction as it will impact their bottom line over the next few months without some sort of creative marketing response.